NFL in the 1960s : Part 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: While his nomination was being discussed, he stayed in a bathroom for hours, washing his hands

Rozelle's selection followed the death of commissioner Bert Bell. After a week of stressful meetings in which the owners failed to select a commissioner, Rozelle was suggested as a workable compromise. Asked to leave the room while the owners debated his nomination, he hid in a bathroom for hours.

When a reporter or someone who recognized him would enter the bathroom, Rozelle would deflect attention from himself by washing his hands. Rozelle's first act as commissioner was to land a lucrative television contract with CBS, and win agreement from the owners to equally share the revenue.

Answer: Vince Lombardi's successor as coach of the Green Bay Packers

Bengston was the Packers' defensive coordinator and Lombardi's top assistant and hand-picked successor. Unfortunately for Bengston, the aging Packers never finished better than 8-6 under him, and he was fired after three seasons, posting a 20-21-1 record.

Answer: Capital, Century, Coastal, Central

The new format doubled the number of playoff teams to four, as each division winner made the playoffs. The Capital and Century divisions formed the eastern conference; the Coastal and Central formed the western conference.

Answer: Minnesota Vikings

The 1961 Minnesota Vikings stunned the Chicago Bears with a 37-13 opening day win in Minnesota. The Vikings, coached by Norm VanBrocklin and with rookie quarterback Fran Tarkenton, went only 3-11 that year, but earned their first victory faster than other new teams in the 1960s.

The 1960 Dallas Cowboys went 0-11-1 before winning their first two games in 1961. The 1966 Atlanta Falcons were 3-11 after an 0-9 start. The 1967 New Orleans Saints had a great beginning when they ran the opening kickoff in their first NFL game back for a touchdown, but started 0-7 on their way to a 3-11 season.

Answer: Jim Taylor

Jim Taylor had the misfortune of playing in the NFL at the same time as Cleveland's Jim Brown. He finished second to Brown in rushing for four seasons, including 1964, winning the title on his own in 1962 when Brown was injured. Taylor's five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons from 1960-64 set a new record, better than even Brown had managed (Brown rushed for 942 yards in his 12-game 1957 rookie season and 996 yards in 1962 when an injured wrist hampered his effectiveness). OJ Simpson tied Taylor's record in 1976, and Franco Harris broke it in 1979 with his sixth consecutive 1,000-yard season. Since the NFL expanded to a 16 game schedule in 1978, several people have attained more than five consecutive 1000 yard seasons.

Answer: They were the first players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame who had been active players in 1963 when the Hall was dedicated

Perry, a running back with the 49ers and Colts, Nomellini, a defensive tackle with the 49ers, and Stautner, a defensive tackle with the Steelers, all retired after the 1963 season and were inducted in their first year of eligibility. This was a signficant accomplishment, because at the time, the Hall still had a large group of worthy players from the 1950s and before who had not yet been selected.

Answer: Blanton Collier

Collier was one of the most underappreciated coaches in NFL history. Frustrated with the team's founding coach Paul Brown after the 1962 season, several players took their case to owner Art Modell. Modell fired Brown, replacing him with Collier. The next season, Jim Brown, one of the players who'd grown restless under Paul Brown, set a new record by rushing for 1,863 yards.

The following year, the Browns beat an "invincible" Baltimore Colts team 27-0 for the league championship. Collier coached the Browns to three more NFL title games in 1965, 1968, and 1969, before leaving after a 7-7 season in 1970.

Answer: A game between the runner-up teams in each division

Conceived in 1960 as a tribute to newly-deceased commissioner Bert Bell, the Playoff Bowl was held in January in Miami, and supposedly addressed the vital question of who the NFL's third-place team was. In an era in which only two teams made the playoffs, the game did offer some very good teams a chance to show their stuff.

However, Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi probably spoke for many when he called the Playoff Bowl "a hinky-dink game played in a hinky-dink town by hinky-dink football players," adding "that's all second place is, hinky-dink." The game was discontinued after the 1969 season, and the NFL has since stricken the results from its post-season records, treating the games as exhibitions.

Answer: Detroit Lions

The NFL champion Packers were 10-0 in 1962 and headed for their second straight title, when they faced the Lions in Detroit on Thanksgiving. The Lions sacked quarterback Bart Starr for a 15 yard loss on Green Bay's first play, their first of eleven sacks during the game. Detroit had a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter, a 23-0 halftime lead, and eventually a 26-0 lead before the Packers added two late touchdowns for a more respectable 26-14 final outcome.

Other Lombardi Packer teams had bigger losses (the largest being 45-6 to the Rams in his first season), but their only loss in 1962 was the worst they were ever pushed around on a football field.

Answer: Sam Huff

Sam Huff grew up and went to college in West Virginia, before joining the New York Giants in 1956. He quickly became one of the foremost linebackers in NFL history, and appeared on the cover of a 1959 Time magazine. In 1961, CBS wired him for sound and broadcast a prime time documentary called, "The Violent World of Sam Huff," narrated by Walter Cronkite.

His fierce (many would say dirty) play against Jim Brown and Jim Taylor and some of the other best players in the league, gained him nationwide recognition before his 1967 retirement.

He came out of retirement in 1969 to play and coach for Vince Lombardi's Washington Redskins, then retired for good after that season.